


Marisa Stole the Precious Shanghai

by chaichan



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Dolls, F/F, First Dates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:47:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26046751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaichan/pseuds/chaichan
Summary: Marisa steals a doll from Alice. Little does she know, she's in for an adventure. Adventure meaning date.
Relationships: Kirisame Marisa/Shanghai
Comments: 8
Kudos: 44





	1. The First Chapter

Man, what a loss. Alice really did a number on her this time. I mean, who knew she'd bring out  _ Goliath  _ in an airborne spell card? No, really, who  _ would  _ think that that huge thing was not only still around, but could fly? Definitely not the Ordinary Magician Marisa Kirisame herself, now laying on the ground somewhere in the Forest of Magic, humiliated in a duel by Alice Margatroid.

The physical loss of the spell card battle already set in long ago, with all her muscles aching - but now the emotional loss was starting to set in too. Normally, she'd just sulk a bit and then work on her magic to get back at Alice next time. Well, next time. This time, there might not  _ be  _ a next time. Because just this one time wasn't exactly the kind of friendly duel that would result in that. No, really, Alice was  _ pissed.  _ And having your kinda-crush be mad at you really doesn't feel good.

After a few minutes of laying on the ground pretending to not be mad herself, Marisa had to admit that maybe, maybe she was in the wrong here. Maybe you shouldn't break windows and instead knock. Maybe you shouldn't appear unannounced through random windows. Maybe you shouldn't, but maybe sometimes you want to, and maybe sometimes what you want doesn't align with what the other person wants, so… Well, the conclusion was right there, and Marisa knew it was, but admitting it still hurt. And since the best way to deal with hurt is to ignore it, she energetically pushed herself back up, straightened out her skirts and — oh hey what's that? 

A few meters away from her on the ground was a rare sight - one of Alice's dolls, lying forgotten for the first time in practically all of history. Now, Marisa always wanted to get her hands on one of those, for study purposes, but Alice  _ never _ let her guard down with them. Never. And she never left a doll behind. Definitely a freak occurrence. Maybe even bait. Maybe even a trick. It could blow up at any point, really.

So, calling out Alice's non-existent bluff and not letting chances be chances _ ,  _ the witch put the doll under her hat with the Mini-Hakkero and fled home hoping no one will ever realise what happened.

* * *

Hours later, Marisa was becoming really certain that it was just not her day. She got no data out of this doll at all. Zilch, null, nada, nothing. Can't reverse-engineer the animating spells, because they're protected by encrypting spells. Can't reverse-engineer the encrypting spells, because they're encrypted by a different encrypting spell. Can't reverse-engineer even  _ that  _ because Alice somehow put the two in a loop that encrypts each other. Can't check the communication spells, the connection spells, the speech comprehension spells, the magic channeling spells. She's even been prevented from taking it apart to see how she made joints as precise as the ones on the doll's hands, because there's another buttload of protection spells on every single joint and body party and eyeballs and hair and even the clothes. Well, she did at least find out it's France, by checking images in her Grimoire. Black dress and white apron check out - the most standard class. Bit weird, considering all the magic.

But the doll kept sitting undisturbed on her desk, as if nothing happened. She looked so peaceful, and so pristine, with her blonde hair and her blue eyes and her calm expression. She looked a lot like, well, Alice, really. Alice with long hair, and no hairband, and a different outfit, and in 1:4 scale, and not alive, but having a crush can have side-effects like seeing Alice where she isn't.

Marisa reached out to put the doll in a more suitable and elegant position, straightened out her own back and decided on what was clearly the best course of action.

"Ahem. Hm. Alright. Hey Alice! Wow, what a beautiful day, right? But it's not as beautiful as — okay no that's too forced… Think, uhhh... " 

The best course of action turned out to be, despite this timeline's silent protestation, practicing confessing to Alice on the doll.

"Alice! Good morning!" 

"Good morning Marisa, is there something you need?" The silent protestation got just a bit louder as Marisa decided to introduce voice acting.

"Oh, yeah, actually! What I need is you, with me, on a date!"

Wow. Pretty slick.

"I-I mean, like, like a date not like in a calendar — " Nevermind.   


* * *

"Alice, the love of my life! I rest easy at night, knowing that tomorrow I will be able to face the day with a smile, because you're going to be there in the world! Please, be my — 'kay there's NO way my feelings are that heavy…"

She put hands over her face, thinking hard. After a moment, she slammed them down on the table and charged back into practicing.

"Yo, Alice! How's your day — "

The doll suddenly stood up. "STOP! Stop! Please, that's enough! I'll go with you on a date, okay? I'll go!"

"Wait, wh-wh-wh — A-Alice?"

"What, don't you recognise the person you've been confessing to so passionately for the  _ past hour? _ " Despite the negativity of the words, the doll had quite a happy look on its face. Alice was  _ teasing _ her, oh gods. 

"I, uhm, have you been listening for all this — "

The happy look abruptly changed to something deeply negative. "No, you moron. The connection to Alice is severed, I just thought I'd get back at you for that hour of pain."

Marisa sat in her chair, face still red, but otherwise completely nonplussed.

"What, don't tell me that it's  _ now  _ too embarrassing to talk."

Not willing to be humiliated now, Marisa gathered her current knowledge of the situation, and slowly put a sentence together. "F-France? You are… France, yes?"

"Shanghai, actually. Though I'm surprised, you identified the outfit correctly as France. Most people assume 'Shanghai' is the name for every single one of Alice's dolls. Yeah, sure, a class that both casts top-tier spell cards and cleans the toilet, go ahead. Though, sometimes they also include Hourai."

Marisa's mind shifted into higher gear. How had she not noticed before? Was this a sophisticated defence spell from Alice? A prank from a fairy? Was this not actually Alice's doll? Or was it…

"Shanghai, huh? I'm gonna need proof of that." She then raised her voice, "You could be some youkai prank, after all!" That ought to frighten any potential enemy.

The suspected youkai prank simply switched to a rather bored-looking neutral expression. "Nevermind. Remember that time you went underground, because of the geyser, and Alice lent you a bunch of Shanghai-class dolls for aid? You do, and I know you also remember how you spent the entire fight with Yuugi staring at her muscles and then muttered 'Ma'am, you could — '"

She didn't get to finish the sentence, of course, as Marisa covered her mouth with her hands in haste. Well, with Shanghai's size, that's more like her entire face, which had the added effect of not letting the doll see the witch embarrassed yet again.

"Okay! Okay, okay! That's proof enough!" When she sensed the culprit of her continued embarrassment stopped moving, she relaxed and let go. "Right into the heavy shit, huh? You're not holding back here at all. You got limited time or something?"

More bored expressions. "Please don't put your hand on my face again. And sure, let's go with limited time. I could even go ahead and claim that Alice is currently searching for me and if we don't go outside to do anything other than practicing confessions she's going to be angry."

"You know that if you want to do something fun, you can just ask me, right?"

Suddenly, a smile. "Sure, but then you wouldn't propose it. It's a date, Marisa."

"I'm not blushing this time! Enough of you trying to get at me! But I'll hand it to you that hanging out with a brand new sapient doll sounds fun. Uh, assuming you are brand new? I think some more explanations are due before anything."

Shanghai closed her eyes, seemingly in thought. "Not brand new. It's been about 5 months since I 'woke up'. No, I don't know how exactly that happened, so I can't provide helpful data." There, she paused for a moment, studying Marisa. "...Predicting the next question as to how this happened - some time ago, I assumed the identity of a France, as that's the class most likely to not be noticed in battle by Alice. Then I got myself lost in that fight earlier, released the kidnapped France to confuse Alice's records, and counted on you stealing me."

"Wait, you kidnapped Fr — "

"Forget. That line of the story. I said too much."

Marisa decided to not question it. Shanghai may be concealing her power level, better not push it. Instead, she settled on something more important to ask. "So… why'd you do that, anyways?"

"Didn't you figure it out already just a moment ago? To do something fun. Don't get me wrong, Alice is wonderful and amazing, but doing just doll chores is tiring. And no, I couldn't just… tell her."

"...Why not?"

"Imagine if your life's goal was right there before you and it said 'I want to get out of here.' She'd probably get depressed." 

"Ohhh, she would, wouldn't she? Good thing your plan worked out." Both Shanghai and Marisa, with a small chuckle, politely ignored the fact that she might be even more depressed once she finds out that her 'life's goal' ran away from home.

"Though, it won't work fully unless we go out and do something! And since  _ you  _ proposed it, it's up to you to decide what we'll do."

Marisa gave it a sigh. "You're demanding, aren't you? Well, that's fine, I know all the good places anyways. Though… first, a demand from me."

Shanghai tilted her head quizzically.

"We'll be going around, right? It'd definitely get out way too fast that I stole a doll from Alice with you around." Marisa then stood up with a grin, and walked over to one of her many mismatched stylistically drawers. "Unless we get you a disguise and pretend you're my own experiment."

Shanghai lit up, as much as a doll could light up, and flew over to the witch who was already rifling through countless bits and scraps and pieces of a colourful array of… things. "I was just about to say that I need a new outfit. Don't get me wrong, France's is cute, but it's not my style, at all. Do you have something red and white?"

"What, trying to imitate Reimu?" Marisa chuckled but a glare shut her down strongly enough that she just dug deeper into the drawers, patches of fabric of various sizes flying behind her as she looked for actual clothes. Seriously, how much can she fit in there? Nevertheless, the two quite excitedly got to picking out a 'disguise'.

* * *

"So, do you actually have a plan?" Shanghai was floating a bit ahead of Marisa, at her eye level. Thankfully - now that she had her pretty new red-and-white outfit, reminiscent of the one she had during the Eientei incident, this time completed with a large red ribbon and cool boater hat on her head - Marisa was maintaining a lot more eye contact. Though it was probably just the changed setting, as they were out in the forest. Still, a doll could dream.

"Uhm, sure I do! This will be a blast, ya know?" For a moment, one could even think she was telling the truth, as Marisa looked quite confident saying that. Brimming with confidence, even.

"...We're moving in the shrine's direction. And I know you go there when you have no idea what else to do." 

"I — th-that's not true!" She paused, realising her optimism and confidence were gone. "Okay maybe it is true. How do you know me so well, anyways?"

"...I  _ do  _ have memories from before I 'woke up', you know?" 

"That doesn't explain much, Alice has just as many memories, and she wouldn't guess that."

"Well, she hasn't been underground with you, yes?" Having decided that that explains enough, Shanghai put the topic back on track. "Anyways, where will you take me, then? The shrine's not gonna cut it. And I  _ am  _ hoping this will be a blast."

"Oho, is that a challenge? Because I'll have you know I have never in my life failed a challenge, ever." With a fierce look, Marisa only took a few seconds to come up with a real plan. "I know just the place. Let's go visit a library!"

With a standard positive expression that still reeked of self-satisfaction, Shanghai nodded in approval, and the two took off in flight above the trees, in the vampire mansion's direction. For a moment, Marisa was worried Shanghai would fall behind with flight speed, but she actually seemed to be flying quite comfortably. Comfortably enough to be facing backwards and staring at Marisa still.

"Showing off, aren't ya?"

"No, I'm just getting my fill of looking at your face." Well, she said that, but her expression remained neutral.

"Is that like a new youkai game or something? Nevermind that, even if it is showing off, your flying is impressive."

"Again, you do realise I was there with you underground, right?"

"Sure do, and it's still impressive! Thought that maybe when you're doing it consciously, you'd lose out a bit."

Shanghai paused for a moment, then started slowing down. "...Now that I'm thinking about it, it feels harder. Hey, Marisa, how do you breathe?"

"Eh, like — oh, you bastard." With both falling for the classic blunder of having thoughts, they continued with even more merry expressions. Soon enough, they'd be robbing Patchouli out of books, and that's definitely something that requires good spirits.

* * *

When thinking of exciting activities, staying silent in a library isn't one that comes to mind quickly. As it turns out though, when silence is more of a need rather than just expectation, things become more wild. And surprisingly, staying silent in a library where magic books, tiny trinkets and weird… artifacts litter every corner isn't actually that easy.

"Though, I do wonder why we  _ need _ to sneak around," asked Shanghai, carefully avoiding the detection area of a protective magical book. "From what I remember, you usually just go in like a mad storm?" They'd been sneaking about the library for at least an hour now, but not one Master Spark has been fired off.

Meanwhile, Marisa was already carrying a hefty sack of books. All to be returned, I'm sure. "Well, y'see, me and Koakuma have a bit of a system. Patchouli struggles with asthma and all that, so to not bother her on really bad days with a fight, I'll just sneak around carefully if that demon girl gives me the signal."

"So the sign 'Marisa, Mistress has a bad day today, please don't bother her much' wasn't actually just for show?"

Marisa gave a winning smile. "All perfectly planned out!" 

"You could keep at least some appearances of this not being just a game."

"Does it bother ya, though? It's fun!"

Shanghai was about to answer whether it does, in fact, bother her, but Marisa shushed her and both went deeper between the shelves. Then, the witch made a few motions with her hands.

"Casting with your hands? Interesting, I've never — "

Marisa responded in a very sneaky shout-whisper. "That's a signal! There's a patrol of fairy maids!" Saying this, she put her Hakkero on one of the shelves, and set it to create an illusion screen, keeping them mostly invisible.

Huh. Oh well. Better stay quiet then, Shanghai. She did do her best, though, to try and memorise the 'fairy maid patrol' hand signal. Still, if asked, she'd say that Marisa was keeping way too on guard with these girls. I mean, they looked carefree enough to not notice anything at all. Though, that may also have been because it looked like a whole party, rather than a patrol. Peeking behind the corner, it looks like an endless parade of fairies. What the hell is with this library?

"Crap, too many of them, one of them's bound to look straight here. Let's scram." With that, the two of them fled the scene to hide deeper in a quiet portion of the library.

"What was that? Do the fairy maids have maid parades on the regular here?" 

"No idea. Think it was some kind of party, actually? Some of them were carrying sake." That idea held a bit of ground, but Marisa still had to wonder if the mansion's employees actually get enough freedom to just do that on a random day.

"Could be. Though, that was wine, not sake. Kept in similar bottles though."

"Probably a lack of resources. Surprised ya realised it's actually wine, stuff looks the same in a container."

"Alice equips most of us with the same sense of smell spell. And it's mostly used for cooking, so I can tell by that." Shanghai looked a bit proud saying that. After all, giving a sense of smell to a doll is no simple feat. Go Alice. "Did you know the books here smell a bit like smoked paprika?"

"Wait, does it make you smell foods even in inedible objects? What a bizarre side effect." Marisa took one of the books out of her sack, and tried her best to detect the paprika. After a few sniffs, she decided she doesn't get it at all. 

"This one actually smells more like a fresh paprika." Shanghai moved in closer, smelling the same book. Marisa was quite close. "And you smell like a good breakfast."

"Might be the mushroom toast I had today. Also, isn't that called a pepper?" She flipped the book over, trying to get a read on its title. After all, smelling fresh must mean it's something interesting. Still - "It's way too dark to read this here. Let me — oh my fucking, I forgot the Hakkero, give me a minute." 

Things really always evolve fast around Marisa, decided the doll as she watched the witch fly away at 'my Mini-Hakkero is gone' speed. I mean she  _ could  _ have just asked what the title is, dolls come all prepared with things like night-vision, you know? 

Speaking of which, the title is… 'The Art of Seducing a Witch'. Really now? Why would Patchouli have this? It could be for Marisa or Alice, both of which Shanghai used to think that the library magician has a crush on, but these assumptions turned out to be wrong ages ago. Narumi? Byakuren? No, both are way too far-fetched. 

Unless… a different solution was the truth. What if this was Koakuma's book? Suddenly, it became even more intriguing. She opened the book, eager to delve into the deep secrets of it, and was immediately met with a colourful image of a cute devil witch. Apparently the author of the book, as it was signed 'Do your best - Elis~'.

Well, thank you Elis, thought Shanghai, turning the page. Then around seven more, as they were all various pictures of the author in different poses and outfits. The chapter list itself looked actually quite promising, containing portions like 'How to Relax Around Your Crush', 'The Best Outfits and Makeup', and excitingly 'Spells to Introduce to Flirting'. 

For a few minutes, she found herself immersed in the world of cute magician girls, as presented by a devil from Makai, which, even if written in a distressingly excited tone, contained some… genuinely good advice. Still, Marisa could return any moment now, and there was no way she was letting her see this book. No, not a way in hell that the potential future target of these romantic spells like 'Lightning Kiss' would get to see them. She chose to grab a few other books and wrap them in one of the many other sacks Marisa left inside her large one. And just in time, as Marisa came back flying. Or more like thrashing back, carrying two bottles of wine.

"So I'm flying back to get the Hakkero - ah, here, a bottle for you, let's get shwasted - right, and, it turns out one of the fairies already found it. So I get really worried they're gonna do something dumb, right?" 

"Uh… huh." Shanghai sloshes around the wine in the bottle. Wow, if only dolls  _ could  _ get 'shwasted', right, Marisa? Well, it still tastes good. 

"So! I approach them like 'give that back or I'll turn you into dust', but the one holding it interrupts me, and, you'll never believe this, she says 'Holy shit I'm your biggest fan Marisa, can I get an autograph?', and they give me the Hakkero back and two bottles of wine!"

"That sounds… pretty amazing, actually. Though I think she's trying to steal  _ my  _ spot of being your biggest fan." 

"You didn't ask me for my autograph, though. Just a groupie outfit doesn't count, you know? But yeah, it is pretty amazing. You think the vampire's gonna be mad that one of her maids has a giant 'MARISA KIRISAME' written on her apron?"

"Oh, Mistress will be fine," said a brand new voice. A foreboding and terrifying new voice. "I, on the other hand, will politely ask you just one thing. What. Exactly. Do you think you're doing?"

"Ah! Ah, uh, uhm, she — " Sakuya's face was intimidatingly close. And intimidatingly calm. 

"Yes, she just asked you for an autograph, say, on a piece of paper, yes?"

"Well, y-yes, but there was no paper, I had to improvise, ya know?"

"So you decided to  _ burn  _ it using your tiny magical device right into her  _ brand new apron? _ "

"Was it brand new? I didn't notice, you know, but she looked so excited, don't you think that could improve her performance or something?"

"It still means she needs a new apron, black-white rat." 

"If I may — " Shanghai spoke up, surprising Sakuya, who had not spotted her yet. "Marisa has a few of those aprons at home already, I've seen. She can simply give one back in pristine condition."

The mansion's head maid looked between the two intruders. "I will not question as to how you acquired those aprons, but if you do bring one back, consider yourself temporarily pardoned." Then, she seemed to deflate a bit. "Look, my work is very important to me. If it's in battle, I can understand, but something like this is just careless ruin."

Shanghai shook her head. "I understand you so well. I'm A- ahem, Marisa's tailor. It's so much more maddening if the clothes are ruined because of a careless mistake than actual use."

"Isn't that right? Though I find that the fairies treasure the outfits I make them quite a lot. They always look excited to wear something I've made."

"Ah, nothing feels better than someone appreciating your work, right?"

Sakuya smiled - having someone else understand a maid's duty can be so relaxing.

"Still, I'm going to ask you to leave. I'd like to be able to wrangle the fairy maid party into a semblance of control, without a witch and her 'tailor' on my back." She paused, barely fighting off a smile. Pff, tailor. Really? Couldn't think of a better cover up story for Alice's stolen doll? "Go on then. Enjoy the rest of your date, and please at least return  _ a  _ book sometimes."

Shanghai gave the maid a doll's winning smile, and flew over to the still shell-shocked Marisa, extending a hand to help her up in the most charming way she could think of.

The damsel in distress on the ground, however, just shook her head violently, stood up, stared at the outstretched hand, and shook it. 

"Job well done, huh? I'd have probably just ran away. Which we should probably do right now." And with a grin, she got on her broom, grabbed the sack and motioned for an  _ incredibly  _ disappointed Shanghai to follow her.

* * *

This disappointment, however, was quickly improved when Shanghai finally realised where Marisa was leading her. Her mind was instead overtaken by the wonderful, smokey, spicy, savoury and very lampreyish smell of Mystia's food stand. It was surprising, really - she was certain they were going to just fly back home and eat some weird mushroom stew accompanied by a vaguely medicinal smelling purple potion. Did the witch realise this was actually supposed to be a date? Oh gosh.

Though, as Marisa was about to move in for landing, a terrifying look of realisation appeared on her face. "Wait, shit, Shanghai, do you like, eat? You're a doll, right, oh fuck, I'm an idiot, do you wanna — "

In response, Shanghai burst out laughing. How rude. She laughed! She laughed, at the now absolutely crestfallen Marisa. "Hey, it can't be that bad! I just — " 

"Pff… No, just… It's just like you to start thinking about it this late. You even gave me wine before."

"Why didn't you say anything then!"

Shanghai was about to laugh a bit more, but she noticed the look on Marisa's face. She actually was worried. "Because I can drink just fine. Don't worry, I'm just laughing at the situation, not you."

"Wow, rude."

"Maybe you've been rubbing off on me?"

"Hey that's  _ actually  _ rude this time!"

"Sorry, it was just right there. But really, I can even eat, like anyone else. I've got a sense of taste, and it all gets disintegrated in there."

"Wait, like, into nothing? For real?" Disintegration magic was no joke. If that was a real thing, then Marisa was about to be extremely impressed.

"Yeah, for real!" Wow, yeah, that is impressive. "Alice installed that function to make tea parties more realistic."

Wait. "Tea parties?"

"Tea parties!"

Marisa stared for a moment more at Shanghai. And another. She then started convulsing - and just like the doll a moment ago, started laughing. 

"Frickin' tea parties! Alice holds tea parties! She's got that kind of magic and she uses it for roleplay with her dolls? And what, she actually makes you drink tea?"

"How uncouth! The tea is quite good, you know? And besides, they're actually quite fun, even if they sound a bit… weird."

Marisa was mildly surprised to find Shanghai actually looked quite genuine saying that. "Huh. Maybe you should invite me to one of them, then?"

"Now, now, Marisa, there's a proper order to these things. I can't just invite you to my home like that."

What? "Huh, but I go to Alice's house all the time?"

"What can I do to make you get it?"

As Marisa was about to ask what exactly is 'it', a completely different voice interrupted them.

"Hey hey, are you two planning to eat? I don't mind waiting, but I do have closing hours, just so you know."

The two of them stared nonplussed at the grinning Mystia for a moment, before collecting themselves and merrily taking seats by the best damn street food stand in all of Gensokyo. Well, debatable, but it's high up there.

"Ah, do you still have some sparrow sake?" Marisa looked at Mystia quite excitedly.

"Nah, you should know I only have that in stock during winter. Although I did expand my menu recently, there's a brand new dish inspired by the outside world!" Mystia pulled out the small menu that consisted of quite nicely drawn pictures of the various dishes in charcoal. "I think they call it, uhh, fish and chips?"

"I have a feeling London would love that, for some reason. I'll have one of those, thank you." The dish actually interested Shanghai a lot. Now, she's not a cooking doll, but battered fish wasn't something Alice had ever done. Though, the noodles shaped to look like wood chips were… probably not what chips meant.

"Ah, then I'll have the lamprey nigiri. We can share, right, Shanghai?"

"My, hoping for me to feed you? I told you there's an order to these things." She even put on her best positive expression. I knowww they're very limited doll expressions, but come on, work this —

"What? Nah, that'd take too long. So how much will that be, chef?"

Shanghai tuned out of the following giggle-filled conversation. Mystia was definitely feeling elated from being called a chef. Oh if only this dimwitted witch gave HER jokey compliments! Calling flying impressive doesn't count. If only she also wasn't so cute, right? And fun. And how she looks so brilliant when flying, so much cooler on the broom than just kind of floating through the air. And that stupidly original outfit that somehow manages to look way cool. And the way the evening sun shines through her hair, and that flashy grin, and the way she talks, especially directly to Shanghai, right now, asking a question. She is asking her a question. 

Broken out of her reverie, all the doll could manage was a violent shake of her head and a visibly confused look.

"I said — Are you gonna eat your food? A bit more and I'm gonna help myself to it."

"Oh! Yeah, I… will. Though feel free to help yourself, I'm not gonna eat a whole normal-sized fish." Gods, how long was she staring at Marisa? The food actually smelled  _ amazing,  _ and the two of them were definitely going to enjoy this meal. The… chips… were actually quite appetising too.

The two of them ate for a while, exchanging 'oohs' and 'aahs' at the quality of the food, and taking bits and pieces from each other's plates. The 'chef' was quite the cheerful company too, telling them anecdotes about recipes from time to time. Soon, they were trying tiny bits of basically everything on the menu and rating them on a scale of "amazing" to "holy shit". Turns out that 'fish and chips' is actually quite high on that scale. 

When they were about to order the cold fish platter, however, Mystia spotted someone waving to her from further away in the forest. 

"Ah! I have to go for a few. Don't wreck the stall or I'm gonna cause an incident." 

Apparently, the floppy-eared person was more important than attending to customers? Well, judging by their happy expressions, that's understandable.

"Wow, leaving us alone like that? I'd call it terrible service, but I can't be mad after that food." Marisa leaned back in her seat, patting her belly in contentment.

A languid atmosphere slowly spread over the two, under the silence of what was now a slightly chilly night. How relaxing.

"Hey, Shanghai… You wanna go to Alice tomorrow, or sometime? We  _ should  _ probably tell her you're like, alive." Not relaxing. Red alert. NOT relaxing. "Hey, don't look like a deer caught in the headlights, it can't be that terrifying, right?"

"I! I mean!" The doll racked her brain for an explanation. At times like this she really wished she had more than three facial expressions to express her inner thoughts. "It's… imagine if you were born, right. A baby newborn human."

"Well, I've got no memories of being born, but I can try. Besides, aren't dolls not — "

"This is a metaphor. And imagine your mom just… didn't know that happened. Would you be able to just tell her it in fact did?"

Marisa stared at her with slowly widening eyes. "Oh. Yeah. That'd be pretty scary. Still, does that mean you think of Alice as your mom, rather than like… just a creator?"

Silence. A heavily embarrassed silence, even if she didn't show it.

"Ah. Well, uh…"

"I mean! She's always taken care of me, and shown affection! It's normal for me to form… daughterly love, right?"

"Well, I can't tell if that's how it works in the world of dolls, but, I think so, yeah?"

"Right? Thank you for agreeing with me."

A silence took over them, with seemingly nothing else to say. Soon it started getting long enough to actually feel awkward.

"S-Say, speaking of Alice… do you think, after going through that hour of me practicing today, would she say yes to one of those?"

Leave it to Marisa to try to break up an awkward silence with  _ this  _ topic. Shanghai just stared at her. 

"Oh. Were they that bad?" Oddly enough, Marisa didn't look particularly worried about it. Was she that confident, or just that certain they were horrible from the beginning?

"No. They were…" Some of them were really romantic and I'd say yes, thought Shanghai. But this topic needed the actual truth. "Marisa."

"They were Marisa?"

Shanghai slapped her face. "No. Oh my fucking…" She struggled to fight off the grin. 

"Alright, no jokes. So, were they good?"

"Let's try this again. Marisa." 

"Yes?" Good, play the skit.

"Alice is dating Yuuka."

Said three-sentence skit ends in an extremely stumped Marisa.

"So she wouldn't have said 'yes' to you, as she's dating Yuuka. That's the reason."

It finally seemed to reach her mind. "Wh-Whoa! You mean,  _ that  _ Yuuka? With Alice? Since when? What?!"

"Yes, exactly that Yuuka. And also, since yesterday. Well, they've been dancing around it for a few months, but yeah, yesterday."

"Oh, wow. A few months? How did I not notice?"

"Because they've been very secretive about it." Thank fuck, thought Marisa. It wasn't just me being daft. "You wanna guess why Alice was especially mad about you breaking in today?"

"Huh?" After a moment of confusion, a look of intense realisation crossed her face. "Oh. OH. Oh, she had Yuuka over and I broke through her window…"

"Yeah, I'd recommend not breaking through windows anymore. You never know who's sharing something important when you break in, you know?"

"I know, I know, but she could have said something… Well, I guess they are keeping it — uh. Shanghai. Should you be telling me this?"

"Ah, don't worry. I called it secretive, but it's more like they just don't really care either way, I think."

"Oh good. Secrets are important, you know? But really, Alice and Yuuka, huh? I think they might be cute together."

"...They are." Shanghai looked away, and though her expression remained neutral, it seemed to soften a bit.

Weirdly enough, Marisa found herself… feeling similar. She thought she might get really upset at the idea of Alice actually dating someone else, but… was she this fast over it? Was it possible she was just keeping the crush running on fumes? Well, that, or she just never actually minded the idea of not getting with Alice. I mean, it was like that with Reimu, quite a bit ago.

"So, uhm."

Oh, right, Shanghai. She was still looking away, though.

"Yeah?"

"Did you have fun with me today?"

"Huh? Yeah! Absolutely, that was a pretty exciting day. Hope your plan-to-have-fun worked out too." She grinned. Damn flashy grin. Why must it be oblivious?

"It worked, though… not in full yet."

"What, still got a trick up your sleeve?"

Yeah, there's no better way to do this. Shanghai reached for Marisa's hand to hold as well as doll hands can hold, and gave her best determined look. Which was just kinda staring hard, really, but what can you do.

The witch noted that the doll's hands felt very chilly, in a good way. "Uhm, is that — " 

"Give me a moment. I'm building up confidence."

Slowly, very slowly, cogs of realisation started turning in the witch's head. Even a blush was starting to send strongly worded letters to her cheeks.

"Marisa."

You know, objectively speaking, the outfit on Shanghai was really cute. 

"Would you… please consider today a romantic kind of date between two girls?"

And the blush arrived, even if that wasn't the question Marisa was silently expecting. And yeah, that outfit is freakin' cute. So, on some level…

"Well, we are two girls. And, e-even though I didn't see this coming, today was… like a date."

Shanghai could feel a smile creeping its way right onto her face. But she had to keep up the attack. "I've been trying to flirt with you all day, you know? All day." 

"You have?" A pause. "Oh." A slightly longer pause. "Oh! ...Yeah, you have. Wow, haha, sorry about that."

No use fighting said creeping smile. The most positive a positive expression can get will do. "Marisa, I like you a lot. Today wasn't just a fluke, because I know you're a lot of fun to be around. And… I think you're really cute."

Oh, wow. She earnestly called her cute. Alice never did that, and whenever Reimu did, it felt like teasing. And sure, she has been teasing her a lot, but… Could this doll's outfit get any cuter?

"So… considering that this was the romantic kind of date between two girls, and you had fun during it…"

Time for the overkill. Shanghai lifted up Marisa's hand, and remembering what little Alice taught her of the best courtship practices, gently kissed it. Thankfully, she didn't feel the witch pull away even a bit. No spells needed, the magic of romance is simply working by itself.

"...Would you consider going on more such dates? And... you know, being girlfriends." Thank all the gods of Gensokyo that Shanghai could not blush.

Marisa could not respond, however, as her thought process resembled a string of random letters. Something along the lines of 'sgasdhfgsagjfsdgfgsdf???'.

"...You… don't need to respond right now, or anything, just — "

"A few more dates! A few more dates sounds nice. I'm not sure about the g-girlfriends bit, but I'll have an answer later." The string of letters managed to form a coherent sentence, though it was still noisy in her head. 

Shanghai couldn't believe it. It worked, it really, actually worked. "Yes! Yeah! Those will be the best dates ever, and it's — I mean, I'll do my best to convince you what the best answer is." She winked. Oh, right, she could wink, she should have done that ages ago.

The witch felt that this wink needed no answer, though the still persistent blush and ever-so-slight smile were enough of a response. 

"Thank you for today, really." What a great night, huh? Ah, but… "I'll have one more request…"

The change of topic, although the previous was quite, uhm, pleasant, was definitely still welcome to Marisa. She didn't know how long she could stand blushing, or seeing that cute — "Ah, yep?" 

"I'm kinda non-existent to Alice right now. So, I'll need to stay at your home."

"Ah, makes sense. Yep, there's definitely room somewhere for you to sleep. Wait, assuming you do sleep?"

"I don't have to, but I do, because the night is boring otherwise."

"True enough. I'll find you some bed for sure."

Shanghai held back on saying 'How about yours?', having decided that was enough flirting with Marisa for the day, but the expression on the witch's face told her she thought it herself. Absolute victory.

Well, not absolute, as the biggest loser that day was still awake at 5am wondering how she was going to tell Reimu that she kinda really wanted to know the 'best answer'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprisingly (to me, since I like writing), this is the first piece of prose I've written. I enjoyed it a lot, though! Even if it sucks, I'll probably keep writing more, because it's just fun.
> 
> Though, I do hope it doesn't suck. And I hope you liked Shanghai.
> 
> Either way, thanks for reading!


	2. Garden Gnomes and Nice Sprites

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuation! Happening a week after the previous chapter. In which Marisa owns a house with a kitchen in it.

" — and oh my fucking decimal system, Shanghai actually took Nitori's hat!"

"Wow, did she now?"

The sun is shining. Birds are singing. Reimu and Marisa are sitting by the shrine, and the most daily of days trudges on. Well, just a bit less daily.

"I was NOT prepared for what's underneath it, so I closed my eyes. I mean, who wouldn't, really? The idea of what's under those kappa hats is a nightmare."

"Genuinely terrifying."

A bit less daily, because Marisa for once was mostly talking  _ not  _ about just her own individual adventures.

"So I open them again, and Nitori's fleeing as if she had seen at least five different onis, Momiji still has no idea what to do with the giant rock, and Shanghai's just kinda standing in shock and I  _ swear _ she became pale, even though she can't."

"Sounds traumatising, actually."

No, she was instead talking about her adventures with  _ someone. _ A doll named Shanghai, to be exact. Rather cute one, that.

"She looks fine by now, but I swear she looks a bit scared every time I get a plate out."

Reimu giggled at the image. "Tell me about it, I can't look at the gaps in floorboards anymore." Something caught her attention in what Marisa said, though, so she paused to mull it over. "Wait. How often does she come over that you get plates out that much?"

"Ah! Didn't I tell you? She's living with me, at least until the deal with Alice is over."

The shrine maiden sighed. "No, you didn't. And you didn't tell me about any deals with Alice."

"Ah, well, you know…"

"What, that you're getting more money behind my back?"

Silence from Marisa.

Silence from Reimu.

The silence continued for a bit longer, as they stared at each other, at least until Marisa broke it herself.

"What are you talking about?"

"What are  _ you _ talking about?"

"Telling Alice about Shanghai."

"Why do you want to sell — ah, this isn't about money."

"No, this isn't about money. Why would it be about money?"

They continued staring incredulously at each other, as if playing the world's dumbest anti-joke skit.

"Come on, what is making a deal about if not money?"

"I'm dealing  _ with  _ Alice, not, like,  _ with  _ Alice!"

"Marisa, you can't put the same accent on the same word and expect me to get it."

"This is about, you know, like, stuff, jeez!"

"Ah! Okay, I get it."

An air of understanding spread between the two. It's so nice to rely on Reimu's intuition telling her 'Shanghai is having parental issues' with just one word. They continued to sip on their teas, enjoying the nice afternoon sun, fairies buzzing about with a bzzzz.

"Wait." Reimu broke the atmosphere, uncharacteristically. "Alice doesn't know about this?!"

"I told you she doesn't!"

"No you didn't!"

"Fuck, I didn't!"

Reimu set down her tea. Can't be holding a cup of a hot beverage if you're going to be angry at Marisa.

"Why didn't you tell her! I mean, I know why, stuff, but you could have told her alone! Explain to Alice, I don't know, something!"

"I mean, when Shanghai just came to me — "

"Got stolen!" 

"Well, either way, we went on a date immediately, and then you know! Things happened!"

The shrine maiden was about to say something back, but… "Wait. A date? You called this 'friendly adventures' an hour ago, though I was heavily doubting that."

"Ah, she may or may not have confessed her love to me."

Reimu beamed a rare smile. "Look at you! Getting all the girls again, huh?" She then paused, keeping the smile. "But how does that stop you from contacting Alice, exactly?"

Marisa blushed, despite the intimidation tactic from her friend.

And with that blush, realisation dawned on Reimu with an 'ah.'

"Yeah." Marisa hid her face.

A sigh. A deep, deep sigh. "Look, best of luck to you. And you better respond to her soon, too. And more importantly — "

"Wait, how did you know I didn't — "

"I guessed, how else! And more importantly, tell Alice! If you don't, this is a dollmaker-caused incident on my hands, and I'm going to fully blame you for it!" You know, that kind of incident sounds interesting, actually - thought Reimu, and immediately perished the thought. Terrible, terrible display.

"It can't be that bad, come on…"

"In the first place, Shanghai being sentient without Alice knowing is already a problem, as that's a youkai running around freely, with no supervision!"

"Hey, I'm right there!"

"As if that counts!"

"I already supervise those three fairies!"

Reimu gave Marisa a poignant stare. The witch soon became terrified, as the stare turned  _ concerningly  _ powerful, but the shrine maiden soon let up.

"I'll let you off, don't worry. Just remember to take care of Shanghai."

"Oh, thanks, I got worried for a moment there." The witch paused, feeling the topic had run its course enough. "Any plans for today, by the by?"

"Hmm…" No, none at all, she was about to say, but soon perked up as her Reimu senses tingled. "Ah, maybe a party?"

A party right now? Where'd she come up with that? With her friend already shuffling back into the shrine to make whatever preparations are needed for this one, Marisa finally spotted a certain melon walking up the stairs to the shrine. Suika. Was she in the mood for drinking with Suika?

...Shanghai's probably lonely.

She wasn't in the mood for drinking with Suika. And thus, she stood up and flew off on her broom. 

* * *

Still, the sight of the tiny oni looking just a bit crestfallen would have made her reconsider leaving. Would have, were she not slightly scared of Reimu right now. Just slightly. Mostly scared of Alice.

But you know, it's not that easy. I mean, what  _ was  _ she going to do with Shanghai? Can't be sure if she's feeling a crush on the doll, can't be sure if she wants a relationship exactly, can't be sure if she's ready for one, can't be sure if it's not just going to go down like the one with Nitori before, can't be sure of anything. And if you can't be sure of something, and it's bothering you, then the solution clearly is...

To ignore it with your best possible effort as you fly over the beautiful trees of the Forest of Magic, taking in the smells of spring. Said smells of spring slowly, over time, turned into a more and more pungent stink of weird al-chemicals and burnt gunpowder. Ah, the smell of home.

As she landed, the smell of home became just a bit unfamiliar. Unnervingly unfamiliar. It smelled faintly of roses, a clean house and… uh… ramen, kinda? 

She set down her broom against the wall, and slowly opened the door to her own now-unfamiliar house. The inside brimmed with an atmosphere she wasn't exactly used to. Well, sure, all the garbage - sorry, not garbage - was still in its place, but it felt… warmer, and cleaner. Somehow.

Right. This wasn't  _ just  _ her house right now. That doll was here too - she probably cleaned  _ something _ , despite Marisa's prior protestations. She did previously rant about how she 'can't possibly work on her own magic' and 'make actual spell cards for herself' in 'this mess'. And that smell of ramen… well, she did spend a bit too much time at the shrine. It smells a bit weird, but food's food, so who's to complain, right?

Stepping in further, she felt the urge to take off her dirty shoes. Sure, normally, she'd just prance around everywhere with mud and pebbles, but it felt wrong to sully someone's cleaning work like this. Somehow. She still didn't know why. Something about this started feeling foreboding. 

Carefully, gracefully and silently, she stepped into the combination kitchenette and dining hall, and was met with…

With…

Her mind reeled for a description. The room resembled… a kind of benevolent eldritch horror. Unknowable, indescribable, incomprehensible. But more like finding a garden gnome by your bed when you wake up, rather than encountering the end of the world itself, because it at most elicits a few unanswerable questions.

In the middle of it all was Shanghai, dressed in the same outfit she wore a week ago on their first date - which for most of the other days she substituted with something less fancy. 

"Marisa! Hi! I was waiting for you! Like, a good few hours! Hi!"

Her enthusiasm at least helped Marisa move out of terrified confusion into simple confusion.

Noticing this bewildered look, Shanghai rushed to explain. "Ah, you're wondering what's going on here, aren't you?" She puffed out her chest and put her hands on her hips. "As you can see, genius little me had the best idea ever. That is, I combined your home cuisine of mushrooms and potions with a Japanese-styled dinner and the romantic French cuisine of the modern outside world! Molecular, I think they call it."

This did exactly nothing to help the poor witch out. Still, Shanghai trudged on with pride.

"I found out about this from Rinnosuke! Apparently, they introduce science - which I presumed to be magic - into the  _ form  _ that food takes. Of course, this would probably not be palatable by itself, to either me or you, so I made the dishes into a flirtatious — "

"Flirtatious." Marisa spoke, finally.

"Flirtatious. Mix of French and Japanese cuisine, but aided by those cool ingredients you pick up and mix all the time."

"Did you use the purple mushrooms?"

"I used the purple mushrooms. You can find them in that deconstructed onion ramen." Shanghai pointed to a soup that dangerously looked neither like onion or ramen. Or a soup.

"And you did this, because, uhm…?"

"Why Marisa, you should know how to read a maiden's heart."

Silence and a few blinks from the witch.

"Uh, I, well, I wanted to have a romantic dinner with you?"

At this, Marisa smiled widely. "See, I read your heart right out loud!" Continuing that smile, she sat down quickly on the seat that's presumably hers. Quickly, because oh god was that embarrassing to say.

"The dishes are cleverly arranged in such a way that it should be intuitive for you with which to start."

Shanghai looked so proud of herself that Marisa started actually feeling a bit impressed. Just a bit, mostly because all this food still resembled eldritch garden gnomes. So, with a grin, she pressed on into the conversation.

"Are there more instructions to this? Or something you'd wanna brag about?" 

"Yes, of course. These dishes will never go cold! I used some simple fire magic together with some dead cicadas that I put under the plates."

"Wait, dead cicadas? Wouldn't lotus extract work better?"

"Hm, hm, you'd think so!"

Surprise coloured Marisa's face immediately. "Since when isn't lotus extract the best for this kinda stuff?"

"Trick question - it hasn't been ever since we ran out of it." 

"Oh, what! I had tonnes of that stuff!" Deciding to not wait further, Marisa bit into the first dish. It actually had a tiny little label saying 'Hexagonally Reconstructed Meta-Tofu'. "Ohhh, this is pretty good actually. But we ran out, really? Don't tell me it was just this week."

Shanghai was now also eating - something of a bubble structure, though Marisa couldn't make the label out. "We ran out today, actually."

"This doesn't taste like tofu at all, you know?" She swallowed, and somehow could feel her throat turning hexagonal. Freaky stuff. Exciting! "And hold on. If we ran out today, and I haven't used any, then what  _ have  _ you been doing?"

"Now, now, Marisa. A magician never tells of her failures."

A loud slap resounds as Marisa's face is covered by her hand. "Did you seriously use up all of it trying to get the heated plates to work?"

"Look on the bright side! It means we can go and have a lotus-gathering date together." Wink, wink.

"As if, you're going by yourself. This is all on you." New dish! It's just labelled 'meat'. Better not ask. Tastes good, though.

"Aww, you'd really abandon me like that? Your future girlfriend?" She tried to pout. Still no luck, doll faces can't do that.

Marisa tilted her head in confusion. "Aren't I already your girl friend?" 

"Oh, don't play dumb. That only worked a week ago."

"Sorry, I don't know what you mean." She flashed a completely innocent smile.

"Your future lover, then? Special other? Darling? G-B-F brackets girl best friend?"

Of course just as Marisa got used to the word 'girlfriend', Shanghai had to go and pull a whole bunch of new words to flirt with. Yep, there's no helping it - she was weak to being flirted with. 

Possibly as a result of being unsure about whether she's in control of the situation when it happens, possibly as a result of not wanting to get too close to others lest they notice her flaws, possibly as a result of being a bottom. Most likely, however, was that she was going to ignore the reason and simply fire back.

"W-  _ ahem _ \- Well then, if you were to get that lotus extract by yourself, don't you think your chances would improve? Surely, taking off my workload would be such a romantic gesture."

Shanghai scoffed. "What outdated beliefs! The truly romantic gesture is to share work between each other."

"What if I'm feeling lazy about it?" By now, Marisa had finished a whole bunch of dishes, and surprisingly, they were really good - her favourite was probably that 'meat'.

"Then that just means I'll angrily pick the flowers myself. Probably pouting and stomping cutely the whole way, and you wouldn't want that, right?"

No, she wouldn't. "I mean, if that helps you do it? I like to dance while picking mushrooms, rather than stomp, but whatever floats your boat."

"Wait, how come I've never seen you dance, then?"

"...Uh, because we haven't picked mushrooms together?" 

"We haven't?"

"Nope, we haven't." They have, but she'd never admit that  _ now. _ Instead, she moved onto the… 'pre-main-course desserts' - specifically, vegan foie gras ice cream. With cherries.

"Oh, oh, wait, don't eat that!"

"What, why? Is it that bad? What even is foie gras?"

"No, no, it's just that you need to scoop it up with a spoon in a very specific manner, or it'll collapse." Shanghai stood up, maneuvering between the dishes. Being doll-sized had its pluses.

Marisa set down the bowl of ice cream, confused. "What are you planning?"

Without a word, the doll scooped up a bit of the ice cream - it really was a very specific manner - and held it out to Marisa's face.

Of course, just as Marisa reached for it, she pulled it back.

"No! Let me feed you. You're too cute not to do that for you."

"R-Really? I mean, feed me? Come on." That's just a low blow, and a bit infantilising.

"Pleeease?" Okay, it is also kinda cute.

"Fine. It better be good."

Shanghai smiled. "Of course it is!" 

And yet, just as she was about to put the spoon in Marisa's mouth, fate struck down that scene. That is, a few loud knocks on the door resounded through the house.

After a bit of a pause from being brought out of the moment so abruptly, Marisa shouted out. "Co — "

And was immediately silenced by Shanghai, who gave her a very frightened look. Marisa shot back with one that said 'what the hell is wrong?'

"Marisa." Shanghai kept staring. "It's Alice. I can recognise the knocking pattern."

"Huh? What's the problem? I guess we had that spat a week ago, but — oh. Right. Alice."

"Yeah. Alice."

The two of them looked in a panic at each other.

Marisa shifted into conspiracy mode, and so she whisper-shouted. "Shit, Shanghai what do we do?"

Evidently, whisper-shouting is infectious, because the doll responded the same. "I don't fucking know! I'm not ready to come out as a daughter!"

"You just did!"

"That's not the — "

"Marisa?" Of course Alice couldn't wait for the two to figure a plan out. "Are you in? No, I mean, I know you're in, but are you going to open the door?"

Shanghai desperately gestured at Marisa, presumably to communicate an actual plan. Marisa just waved a hand at her quickly, implying she should hide. 

"AH! YEAH! GIVE ME A SEC ALICE I'M STUCK IN HERE A BIT!"   
"Don't worry, I have aaaall the time in the world."

Quickly, the two idiots inside the house started actually taking action, with Shanghai scrambling to find the best place to hide, and Marisa moving her ass to open the door for Alice. A few moments later and the door flung open, letting Alice be met with the sight of a visibly nervous Marisa.

To this, the visitor just raised an eyebrow. The small troupe of dolls around her reflected the emotion. "Took you long enough. Are you alright?"

"Oh, yeah, pshh, of course. Just got way into spellcrafting, you know how it is."

"...Were you preparing a fire spell or something?" Alice and the dolls are eyeing Marisa heavily.

"Oh, yeah, yeah! Come on in, what's up?"

She's definitely up to something weird, thought Alice. Nothing good, most likely. As she was walking in, internal screaming could be heard by satoris anywhere around - from Shanghai, mostly at Marisa's stupidity.

"Have you cleaned up? That's quite rare to see." By now, Marisa is faux-excitedly leading Alice straight into the guest room - which just so happens to be the kitchen-dining room but oh well.

"Oh, uhm, mhm, yeah, yeah, you know, just felt like a bit of fresh air, aha. What brings you here, Alice?"

Finally, they entered the 'guest room'. Alice chose to completely ignore the garden gnome sitting on the table to her right, and focused on the matter at hand.

"I — no I'm sorry, I can't ignore that. What the hell is on the table?" One of her dolls started inspecting the aforementioned metaphorical gnome.

Marisa has many nervous gestures - this time, she's waving her hand in funny waves, instead of sweating. "Oh, you know, you know!"

"Marisa, I don't."

"You knowwwww!"

"I really don't… haaah… nevermind, nevermind." She could really feel a migraine coming. But she had to be strong, she came here with a purpose. "You haven't visited me in a week. Did getting beaten shake you up that bad?"

"Whoa. Are you here to worry about me?"

"No, that was mostly just a segue into conversation. Although… I do apologise for going that far. I shouldn't have brought Goliath out."

"Nah nah, that's fine, it was fun fighting her. It? Her. Never knew you had a proper danmaku spell card like that, even."

"The more you know. Anything on your side?"

"Ah, nah, nothing, you know, just having adventures like…" Once in a lifetime, Marisa's brain clock strikes midnight, and has a realisation. This time, it realised that Alice wanted an apology, not a report of the week.

Alice just stared at her, kind of surprised.

"Well, you know… sorry." 

Her response was just a raised - if not still surprised - eyebrow.

"Sorry for barging in on you? I should do that a bit less?"

"Good, I'm glad we have that behind us." She let out a breath she was silently holding. Surprisingly, getting people (Marisa, in particular) to apologise isn't that easy.

"So, uhm, was that all you needed with me?"

"No, I… also wanted to explain. Explain why I was so mad in particular that time."

More nervous gestures from the funnier witch, including fiddling with her hat. "Ah, yeah, that'd be good to know. So. You know. I can understand." Nailed it. Totally didn't show off you know exactly what this is about.

"Well, I'm sure this is a topic you’re familiar with." Pause, with a hint of a blush. "I have… acquired a girlfriend. The dating kind of one."

Do your best to look surprised, do your best to look surprised - prayed Shanghai. "Aww, that's great Alice! I'm actually really happy for you. Is it Yuuka?" Prayers fall upon silent ears on this day.

"Ye — how in oblivion did you guess that?"

"Oh, well, you know, you two just have good chemistry?"

The puppeteer gave Marisa a hard, hard stare. Then she shrugged. "Oh well. I guess we do, to be fair. She's actually a really caring person, you know?"

"What. Yuuka Kazami? THE Yuuka Kazami?" What do you MEAN Yuuka Kazami? She's threatened to KILL-MURDER her before, how can she be caring?

"You'd be surprised! She actually has a very relaxing demeanor and pleasant aura once you get used to each other."

"There's no way, seriously. And how did you two even get used to each other?? You used to be like, so not on good terms."

"Oh, you know, sometimes — "

Shanghai tuned out of the following conversation. She already knew everything that had gone down between those two fresh girlfriends, after all. No, she had a much more important problem to focus on - the single doll that Alice thoughtlessly tasked with inspecting the table. Seriously, would it kill her to not give out autonomous loop orders without an end condition sometimes? God knows how many times Shanghai went through that. 

But that wasn't the important part. No, the important part is that dolls  _ will  _ execute orders exactly as they're given, to the absolute best of their abilities. Which meant this one had most likely already taken note of not only the Alice-like handwriting on the labels, but also the tiny footprints of another doll, and most likely the presence of Shanghai hiding right underneath it. 

Of course, she couldn't just escape from under the table. That would give away her position and presence immediately. No, she needed a doll's plan…

⭒☆  Girls are now thinking. Please wait warmly until it is ready.  ☆⭒

As Marisa kept interviewing Alice about Yuuka - and apparently other bits of small talk too - Shanghai finally came up with a plan. Remembering her doll training, she realised - if she just does  _ nothing _ the doll will simply accept her as 'there was an object of no importance under the table'. Genius. Relying on lazy analysis has  _ never  _ before failed.

Finally, in a nerve-wracking move, the enemy doll decided to move under the table. And suddenly, Shanghai found that doing nothing was quite hard. No, not because she's nervous. More like… because this doll has blonde hair. With a red dress, and little blue eyes - and a big red bow on her head. 

Doing nothing is quite hard - when you're faced with the existential crisis of facing your own… your own body, of sorts. Someone whose memories you have. Someone whose name is yours, and someone who used to be simply you.

And now apparently isn't. And never will be again.

Marisa just laughed at something loudly. It may have been a joke from Alice about Reimu.

The body in front of her existed, just as she did. And it used to be her. And it could be her again any day. And yet it wasn't, and never will be the same.

She heard Alice start excusing herself, saying she needs to go, but that it was good to catch up once in a while.

Shanghai didn't budge, and neither did Shanghai. Was this a clone of her past self? A parallel timeline? 

The two witches started moving back to the entrance, apparently in quite bright moods now.

And so, the doll in front of her moved back too. Surely, with plenty of evidence. Shanghai sat down on the ground, mostly shaken.

Soon enough, Marisa came back, heaving the kind of sigh one heaves after a hard job. Gossiping with Alice  _ is  _ a hard job, after all. Okay, maybe a bit more 'fun' than 'hard', but that's besides the point here. 

She put her hands on her hips, and looked around the room. "Shanghai? You there?"

"I, uh, yeah, sure am. Under the table." The doll started putting herself back together, soon flying out from under there.

Marisa gave her a standard Marisa-styled cocky grin. "Glad you came out. I dealt pretty well with Alice, don't you think? Distract her and all."

"I came out a week ago… But yeah, that actually went fairly well. I think. I got scared when you invited her in."

"Oh pff, haha, that was a complete fuck up on my side. But you know, leaving her out there wouldn't be right!"

"You're perfectly right and I would have not forgiven you. Even if I won't forgive you right now either, I think she found out about me anyways. There was, uh… a doll… spying around the table."

Marisa waved her hand dismissively. "It's gonna be fiiiine. What could it do? Relay all info to Alice?"

The two stared at each other.

"Oh. Yeah. It could do that. It probably will."

The two stared at each other some more. They liked doing that, I think.

"Should we, uh, go to Alice. Like, tomorrow?"

"I don't want to."

"Me neither."

They stared even more. 

"But we have to."

"Yup, we have to."

Then, simultaneously, they mentally bit the bullet and decided to go to Alice. Tomorrow. Not today. But they'll do it. 

Marisa looked over the table. "We've still got a lot of food left."

"Oh!" Glad for the distraction, Shanghai quickly took up the topic. "Yes! Yes! Let's get back to it. The dishes are still warm, after all, thanks to genius little me."

And so, putting off particularly serious issues for tomorrow, the two of these clowns went back to eating the various experimental and terrifying foods. Shanghai was overjoyed when she  _ did _ in the end get to feed the witch - who had the most adorably embarrassed look on her face, on top of a smile slowly creeping on, because, really, not only was the food good, but we also can all be sure that Marisa's absolutely having a crush on the doll.

Soon enough - that is, after a good few hours of fucking about - they found themselves in their bed. One bed. Shanghai's tiny bed was still in the making.

And both couldn't fall asleep, realising that tomorrow was actually going to be a serious day. Not to mention the quiet crisis going on in Shanghai's head of 'am I really a person?' - and the quiet crisis going on in Maria's head of 'shit I really do like her, oh my god she's so cute and-'.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's that. I hope you enjoyed it, again. I, uh, you've probably noticed it ends on a rather open-for-next-chapters thing -- I'm planning on turning this into a series, though the next chapter will likely be in a new fic, as it won't *entirely* be focused on Marisa and Shanghai being gay.
> 
> That is, I really love dolls and I'm planning on making a whole series about all of Alice's dolls - and I mean all, since I love them all equally.
> 
> Also, a lil' drawing of Shanghai in her date outfit: 


End file.
